Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone! I just made a new necro, and was wondering how to use the Death Shroud mechanic properly. The life force for it drains very fast, and the damage seems pretty pitiful compared to my axe or staff (Currently lvl. The only skill that seems useful is the “4” skill because it’s an AoE life steal, which is pretty cool!

Thanks for the advice!

Provided you are traited for fury on enterting DS, pop life transfer (if aoe’ing) and cast life blast 3 times

Above 3-4 life blasts and you will notice your lifeforce use becomes unsustinable in a number of builds without LF generating abilities like condition builds, the first 3 lifeblasts are also affected by fury and do more damage because life force is above 50%

This is more targeted at end game, I assum you are level 8 not, at low level wells and DS 4 are your best choices

I’ve only a baby necro, so my opinion may not be the best. But from what I’ve seen, it’s best use is as a secondary health pool giving time for abilities to cooldown. It appears to be primarily a defensive ability. Of course that’s not all you can use it for, but I think that’s the best use.

To get the best use out of it you should pick up a trait that does something when you enter/leave DS (like enfeebling shroud) and use it in quick bursts. I mostly use DS for absorbing damage, a quick 2 and 3, maybe 4 but ususally not, then I am back out again. I rarely stay in it long enough to spam 1, unless I’m in a dungeon.

It is great as a defensive tool, and that’s mostly what you’ll use it for (or the #4) at low level. Don’t underestimate the value of that fear, or the chill effect from #2! Later, and with a couple traits, it can be a fun and powerful offensive tool.

I’m currently using the Unyielding Blast trait in Soul Reaping to make DS1 pierce (go through multiple mobs) and cause Vulnerability, and the Reaper’s Might trait in Spite to make it grant Might. So I start a fight with a few DS1 shots and get that many stacks of might, with the mob half dead and vuln’ed. A few shots from the dagger and they’re toast. I just picked up Weakening Shroud as well, to have it cast Enfeebling Shroud when I enter DS, and that should work great for how often I pop in and out. It’s been a blast.

Thanks for your advice everyone! I’ll continue using it as a defensive tool! I’m really enjoying the survivability that comes with Necros!

As lettucemode suggested, it’s nice to have a trait or two that activates with DS. Personally I have Weakening Shroud and Deathly Invigoration. Blinking in and out of DS gives me the weakening shroud effect and a nice little heal In dungeons and PvP, Transfusion (healing allies with DS4) can give a nice AoE heal. You can even heal yourself if you run out of life force mid-channel.

as everyone else is saying it becomes much more useful once you start to add traits and then it’s use will actually vary depending on what traits you decide on, personally I use Unyielding Blast which really helping with damage
as an added bonus if you have traits points into that line (soul reaping) you generally should be able to stay in death shroud for a bit longer (in theory at least)

I use DS almost entirely for two things. To remove a condition via Shrouded Removal in Death Magic and for Life Transfer for it’s AoE damage. When traited fully in DS you can pop in and out very quickly to remove conditions very fast and add a lot of extra damage while your Staff skills cool down. I never just stay in DS any longer then it takes Life Transfer to finish. The other abilities of DS seem rather pointless compared to Staff skills. The only time I ever do stay in DS for a long time is when I need it to survive and it’s also why I never use all my life force just to deal damage b/c you need it when it matters. If you mess around with your build and incorporate this you will see how much harder your are to kill and the extra damage you put out over time.

at level 20 i use it in multiple mob fights.
i spread conditions and DS4 to help them on their way.
I actually pop out of DS pretty liberally and just use it for extra damage and escape.
After playing an ele for a while i am pretty used to using just what i need at the time and moving on.

Kyskythyn.6471:

As lettucemode suggested, it’s nice to have a trait or two that activates with DS. Personally I have Weakening Shroud and Deathly Invigoration. Blinking in and out of DS gives me the weakening shroud effect and a nice little heal In dungeons and PvP, Transfusion (healing allies with DS4) can give a nice AoE heal. You can even heal yourself if you run out of life force mid-channel.

this sums it up nicely. early on in levels though, DS is a second HP buffer and cool bag of tricks to play with when you want a grab-tele.